Some Serene Pictures

They're baaaccckkkkk....

The geese, I mean. 

I think this is the mom and dad and the babies from this spring, but, if so... 

several babies are missing. 

This bird was WAYYYY across the pond. 

It stood like that, staring at the top of the dam, for almost 30 minutes. 

Maybe the others were over the dam on the other side. 

The others finally got worried, and hit the water to go see what was up. 

Whereupon goose six slid down into the water and joined them.  That still left one of the original six babies missing, or... one of the adults. 

The pond was so peaceful. 

We had a storm this morning, and the huge lilly pads had drops all over them. 

The spent pods are beautiful in their own right. 

The buds are beautiful, too! 

There were lots of happy tour kids today. 

Even the older kids enjoy riding the train! 

Others were walking from building to building... 

Or stopping to take pictures, as this man was. 

We had strong storms this morning, and right now, are expecting more tonight. 

I hope we have a little cooler temps tomorrow when I will be at the Ag Hall all day. 

Lots of Pictures and Stories

(Please see my last post for information about our old house.)  

I mentioned I had had a fun weekend taking pictures, 

so I am going to share some with you. 

This picture is worth double-clicking to biggify it.  It's the red-shouldered hawk, I thought he was gone.  Gorgeous!  An absolutely gorgeous bird. 

Saturday morning, another group of young professionals from Cerner Corporation and 

another company came to the Ag Hall to help get ready for the season.  This was 

our second Saturday "work" day.  I can't praise these young folks enough. 

They are not afraid to get their hands dirty. 

They weren't the only work crew.  The dam around the pond had to be re-constructed over the winter, and our main railroad man and his crew are working to try to get the train operational before we open in a week and a half. 

If the train is not running for our first event... Barnyard Babies.... we will be giving 

hayrack rides. 

I can't praise these guys enough, either.  It was cold that day! 

I went by the teal on the little pond on the way to church that night, and on the way home, too. 

We saw the sheep on Sunday, but the lambs were all down in the creek bed behind these two ewes. 

I saw two of the three elk yesterday morning.  

So. hard. to. get. pictures. of. black. birds. 

If I had just lifted the camera up another inch or so! 

This girl was out in a pasture this morning, alone.  She was not sure what I was doing, so after I took a couple of pictures, I moved on so she would go where ever she was off to. 

On our way home from the park, we saw these four turkeys in

  a big field. 

They looked like they were having a kaffee klatch. 

They were back tonight... 

Two of them were calling plaintively. 

They would call, and then stop and listen intently. 

Calling again. 

I hope he was hearing an answer!  

I saw only 4 single hens today, each one by themselves. 

These tulips are just going by, but still so beautiful in the sunlight tonight at the foot of our street. 

More pictures tomorrow! 

A Busy Weekend

Friday morning seems so long ago, I had forgotten, until looking at the few pictures I took, 

that I had seen the quail pair going up the road far ahead of me again! 

Sunflowers are blooming amongst the weeds at the old house. 

The temps were not too bad that day, though I spent most of it inside at the Ag Hall. 

Our too-quiet Ag Hall was transformed on Saturday.  

There were vehicles everywhere for Tractor Daze and Touch-a-Truck! 

Almost the first vehicle I saw was this antique fire engine, 

which is actually still in use fighting brush fires in Fairmount 

Township (our fire department).  

That's the Fire Chief, Chuck, who is one of Keith's very good friends. 

Kids were allowed to touch all this equipment. 

At noon, we had a Parade of Power.  

We even had a helicopter land... 

And boy, was it popular! 

There were animals, too... this beautiful mustang and burro were adopted from the Bureau of Land Management. 

The little train made many, many trips with happy passengers. 

We even had an artist in residence, painting for the crowd.  Mark Conrardy is from Kansas, but now lives in South Carolina.  He came back to see his family and participate in Tractor Daze.  He specializes in boldly painted agricultural subjects, and we now have some of his work on exhibit at the Ag Hall.  He was very personable, as well, and his family was delightful. 

People were interested in watching him work. 

There were food trucks, and this unique presentation... "Churn of the Century"... you are looking at the way they made ice cream... with the churn on the right.  Fascinating. 

You see they had a line most of the day. 

Even though the volunteers and staff were pooped, it was so wonderful to see the place so alive! 

And then, in the evening, a total change of pace, and Jax played in a make-up game.  There were so many games cancelled because of rain this year, they are still trying to get some in. 

I have to tell you, after walking more than five miles... I was worn out, and glad when the game was over quickly. 

I volunteered to tend the front desk again today, because everyone was so tired out. 

We had a quiet afternoon... and I got some clerical things done.  I am glad to see evening here, though... and am truly tired.  

We'll be staying in for a few days... except for necessary runs to the old house to take care of the chickens, as we have gone from cold, rainy weather to a heat index of 104 here in Fairmount this afternoon. 

The hens are staying cool in the old henyard!  Thank heavens for shade. 

The Bee's Knees

This is Ray, who is the Man at the National Agricultural Center 

and Hall of Fame, in Bonner Springs, Kansas. 

That's his fiancee, Judy, with him. 

I am privileged to volunteer there... I started last week. 

The Center was closed last year, it is 50 years old, but 

had fallen on hard times. 

The new (part-time) director is trying hard to get 

the place rolling again. I am in awe of her, because she is working almost full time hours to make things happen. 

So, back to why Ray and Judy are pictured here. 

Ray is an apiarist, and that's a bee-keeper. 

Recently, he worked with the second grade class at 

Delaware Ridge Elementary School, of Bonner Springs, Kansas, 

learning about bees and bee-keeping. 

They built two hives under his supervision, and also decorated them. 

Ray then built an area at the Ag Hall so that people can 

safely watch the bees going to and from from their hives. 

It was made of cattle panels with chicken wire attached to them, so no little fingers can get through. 

The "door" has a window in it so that you can stand there and watch the bees going in and out of their hives. 

First, he put on his "bee jacket", as he called it. 

And then took the first hive from the back of the truck. 

And carried it to the display area. 

Here, Ray is setting the second hive. 

Then, he removed the wood pieces that closed the 

entrances to the hive with his hive tool. 

Can you see the bees boiling out?  

You can click on it to make it bigger. 

I was standing back a ways (!) and the camera

was focusing on the fence instead of the bees. 

He placed the door back on, and secured it. 

And then calmly and deliberately walked a short distance away, 

followed by a lot of bees!  He stopped there, and watched them for a while. 

He told me that it would take them about an hour to settle down and orient themselves to 

where they live now. 

This is a tiny view of the beautiful grounds. 

I'll have better pictures later this week. 

On Tuesday morning, the class that made these hives will be at the Ag Hall to 

meet the Master Gardeners. 

The hives are sited near the Master Gardener's Display Garden, and the kids 

are going to plant bee-friendly plants.  I'm going to run over and take 

pictures of the proceedings, which I'll share with you. 

If any of you travel to the Kansas City area, I hope you'll visit the 

National Farming Center ... and I hope to share a lot of it with you in the months to come. 

I took many, many pictures of nature this weekend... I hope to share those with you this coming week! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! 

So does Lil!